When Rikku Told Yuna
by Kouga518
Summary: A retelling of when Rikku finally told her cousin who she was in love with. RikkuPaine pairing.


A/N: Just another funny little idea that me and my friends came up with the other day. Enjoy!

**When Rikku told Yuna**

Yuna watched as the Celsius made a graceful landing at the dock on Besaid. She smiled as the landing ramp descended, and her bubbly cousin came bounding down the ramp. Rikku proceeded to catapult herself onto Yuna when the young Al Bhed was within jumping range.

"Easy Rikku, your gonna knock me over!" Yuna said, struggling to maintain her footing.

Rikku just smiled and pulled herself out of the hug. "Sorry, Yunie. So how are you? What's the big news you were dying to tell me?"

Yuna just beamed at her cousin, "You mean you didn't guess it? Tidus and I are getting married!"

Rikku jumped up and down in excitement at the news. "Really! Congrats Yunie! When are you two getting hitched?"

"In two days! I called you because I wanted you and everyone else to be there."

"Yuna is getting married!" Brother stopped midway down the ramp as he heard the news. He then proceeded to bounce around, waving his arms around. "Oh, sad day! My heart is aching!"

Buddy and Shinra just stood there shaking there heads from side to side. "Come on Brother. You didn't actually expect Yuna to fall for you, did you?"

Brother didn't answer. Instead, he made little whining noises as he slowly moved down the ramp. "So asinine." Shinra added.

Yuna smiled and greeted her friends as they all came down off the ramp. Though after taking a quick head count, she noticed someone was missing. "Hey, where's Paine?"

Rikku suddenly jumped at the sound of the name and began darting her eyes from side to side. "She's, um, well, uh..." Yuna looked at her with an odd look. "...she's, SHOPPING! IN LUCA!! Yea, that's it." Rikku smiled and scratched the back of her head.

Buddy looked at Rikku oddly and said, "Paine is shopping? Are we talking about the same Paine, or is there someone else you know named Paine?"

Shinra chimed in too, "I don't remember us ever dropping Paine off in Luca."

Rikku let out a little hesitant chuckle and responded, "She must have done it when we were docked earlier today. She told me, wonder why she never told you guys." Rikku then began to shuffle away from everyone's prying eyes and began to change the subject, "So are we gonna meet the lucky husband to be, or are we gonna stand her and chit chat?"

The group stared at her curiously for a second, then agreed. Rikku very quietly let out a sigh of relief as the group moved on.

Engine room of the Celsius +++

Paine crawled out from behind one of the large pistons on the right hand wall, very quietly cursing in both basic and Al Bhed. As she wiped the sweat from her brow, she plopped herself down on the floor to rest.

"_I _STILL _don't see why Rikku can't just tell her cousin by herself. Does she really need me there as well?_" Paine sat there trying to catch her breath while making sense of what Rikku had told her earlier.

Rikku and Paine both had come to the decision that they needed to tell Yuna about their relationship. The two had been together now for two months, keeping their new feeling for each other out of the public spotlight. But Paine was trying to change from her old habits, and as part of that change, she didn't want to keep secrets from people anymore.

So the pair had decided that they needed to tell at least Yuna. Though they would probably need to tell the rest of the Celsius crew. And Tidus. And Lulu. And Wakka.

All this thinking was making Paine's head spin. "_Why can't this be easy?_" She got up and started walking toward the cabin. The plan was to have Paine hide on the ship until Rikku gave her the all clear signal over her commlink. Then they were going to meet Yuna in private and drop the news to her.

While she was nervous about confessing her feelings about Rikku to Yuna, the thought of what Yuna's face might look like made Paine smile a bit. "_Well, at least if she freaks, we'll get a free comedy show._"

As she reached the cabin, Paine's commlink started buzzing. Before answering it, she looked over at Barkeep and told him to head over to the bridge for 10 minutes. The Hypello did as he was asked without question. Barkeep knew how mad Paine could get if he ignored her.

When the coast was clear, Paine opened up a channel, only to hear the usually cheery Al Bhed answer.

"Are you clear, Paine? There's no one in there with you, is there?"

"No. And remind me again why I couldn't just get off the airship with everyone else. I mean, did I have to hide from EVERYBODY on the ship for the last six hours?"

The chat went dead for just a minute before Rikku answered, "Uh, well I guess it wasn't necessary. Heh, sorry about that."

"Rikku, you really didn't think this out very well, did you?"

"Not as well as it could have been I guess. But that's not important!"

"You still haven't told me why I have to be there too. I mean, couldn't you just tell her and get it over with?"

"No, I can't do that! You need to be here too!"

"Why?"

"Because, we're together now. And if we're going to be that way, we need to face these little challenges together. And besides, if she freaks out and tries to strangle me or something, I'm going to need someone to pull her off of me."

Paine spent a long time thinking about that. Rikku was right. If they really were going to be together, then they would need to act like a couple. And that meant that in times like this, they needed to confront the problem together.

"Okay, I understand now. Can I come over now?"

"Yes. I'm going to pull Yuna into the hut at the edge of town nearest the temple. It's empty right now, so it should be perfect. Just start walking there."

"And what if someone sees me? Right now, everybody thinks I'm off in Kilika, remember?"

"Um, about that. I actually told everyone that you were shopping in Luca." A small laugh came through the comm line.

Paine just sighed, "Whatever, what should I do."

"Just head over to the hut. After we fess up, it's not really gonna matter anymore. Any other questions or comments."

"Just one."

"Oh! What is it! What is is!"

"I make the plans next time."

Rikku started to protest, but Paine shut off her communicator before she could hear what the protest was.

Besaid village, vacant hut +++

Yuna sat there in the hut, staring at her cousin oddly. For the last few hours, everyone had been in Lulu's hut, conversing and congratulating the engaged couple. That was of course until half an hour ago, Rikku suddenly asked Yuna to follow her outside.

"Why, what's up?" Yuna had asked.

"I have something I need to tell you, and it's super secret, ultra secret, top secret, hush hush type stuff!"

Yuna had began to protest, but Tidus had told her to go ahead and go with her cousin. So the two had walked out into the hut at the north end of the village, closest to the temple.

"So what do you have to tell me?" Yuna asked.

"Well, uh, I can't tell you just yet!" Rikku exclaimed, sounding slightly nervous.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm waiting on somebody first!"

"Who?"

"Uh, IT'S A SURPRISE!" Rikku threw her hands in the air and waved them around like someone at a dance club.

So there they had sat for the last half an hour. Yuna had seated herself in a chair and stared curiously at her cousin. Rikku had placed herself right at the door, and every few seconds she would poke her head out, as if she was looking for someone.

Yuna was on the verge of leaving when she was startled by an excited outburst from Rikku. "There she is!"

Just as she said this, Paine walked into the hut.

"Paine! How'd you get here? I thought you were in Luca."

Paine shot a sidelong glance at Rikku and responded, "Funny that, isn't it? I thought for sure I was in Kilika." Rikku just smiled and scratched the back of her head.

Yuna stared at the two quizzically and said, "Wait a minute. What are you two talking about? What's going on here? Are you guys plotting or something?"

Rikku waved her hands in front of herself and said, "No, no. We're not plotting against you. We really, really have something to tell you!"

Yuna stood up and approached the two. "So what is it?"

Rikku spoke "Before we tell you anything, you need to promise me you won't like, freak out and try to kill us or anything."

Yuna cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, "Ooooookay, I promise. So what's the big secret?"

Paine spoke next "Remember when you were asking Rikku about her love interests?"

Yuna did in fact recall a conversation Rikku and her had had last month. She had mentioned that Gippal would probably make a good husband for Rikku.

"I already found someone. So Gippal will have to look for someone else." That had been Rikku's answer. Though she never elaborated on who the special someone was. In fact, Rikku had seemed real hot to change the conversation after that.

"Oh, so you mean your going to tell me who the lucky someone is finally?" Yuna clasped her hands together and smiled.

"Yes. I am." Rikku paused for a moment.

It was an odd setting. Yuna was there waiting with great anticipation to hear who Rikku's special someone was. Rikku stood there scratching her head, tapping her foot anxiously. Paine was doing everything she could to not look at Yuna.

The answer of course came unexpectedly. And it was certainly not the answer Yuna was expecting.

"I in love with her!" Both Paine and Rikku spoke in unison, pointing to each other.

Yuna's jaw dropped, and her hands flimsily collapsed to her sides. For just a few moments, no one could speak. Yuna just stood there looking at the pair of them.

"Uh, Yunie. You still there?" Rikku cautiously approached her cousin and waved her hand in her face.

"Do you think we killed her?" Paine asked. As a response, Yuna finally spoke.

"Rikku, you fell in love with Paine?!"

"Yup. You're not gonna freak out are you?"

"I think it's too late to worry about that." Paine added.

"But how did that happen? I mean, I never knew you were into other girls."

"Hehe, and I never took you as a sucker for Blitzball players."

"Well, regardless of the circumstances or reasons, I'm happy for both of you."

Paine raised an eyebrow, "What's the catch?"

Yuna smiled, "None. I suppose in a weird way, the two of you were made for each other. You two will make a cute couple."

Both Paine and Rikku sighed in unison. "Well now that that's over with, don't you think we should tell Buddy and everyone else?" Paine asked.

As the three stepped out though, they realized there would be no need, though. The entire Celsius crew, Tidus, Lulu, and Wakka were all standing right outside the hut door. They all wore completely surprised looks on their faces.

"Well I guess that answers that." Paine said, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.

Rikku chimed in weakly, "Um, how much did you guys hear?"

Buddy just said, "Let's just say enough."

Tidus suddenly spoke up, "Well, I never saw that one coming."

"Hey, whatever works for you two, I say go for it, ya?" Wakka added.

"I'm just a kid. I'm just a kid." Shinra kept repeating. This was probably too much for him to take in at one time.

Rikku suddenly spoke up, "So you guys aren't going to throw us off the island for being strange like that?"

Lulu spoke up, "Nonsense. Of course we won't do that. If it is a blessing you seek, then you have all you need."

Buddy spoke up again, "As long as you two are happy, that's all that matters."

Yuna smiled again, "See, you guys didn't need the big conspiracy after all!"

Paine shot another glance at Rikku, "Yea, that's right. No need for secrets."

Rikku just giggled.

Besaid village, two days later +++

The wedding of Yuna and Tidus was a festive one. It lasted a good portion of the day. Even the Auroch's pitched in, putting on a grand show for all the guests. It was a wedding that no one would be able to forget.

But slightly less known was a smaller celebration that was held later that evening at the waters edge. Only close friends were invited to this celebration, though.

For it was there that the love between Paine and Rikku was blessed by their closest friends. And it was there that they took a vow to never stop loving each other, no matter what came between them.

Ending A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! I wrote this because I decided that I need a fiction in my story collection that told the story of what happened when the two confessed their feelings about each other to other people.


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